‘This has been a bloody nightmare from beginning to end.’ He stubbed out the cigarette roughly. Rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. ‘It had to happen to this one; you know how the General feels about him. Bloody hell …’ He sighed deeply. ‘Send some people out to make discreet enquiries … civilian clothes, of course …’

The Captain nodded.

‘We’ll keep them away from the site anyway for a few weeks,’ he continued. ‘The road has collapsed. The coast road is closed. That’s easily explained.

‘We’ll have to put out a statement locally; we’ll field questions from GCHQ afterwards. We’re so close to delivery of the drones. Any questions about our competency at this point in time wouldn’t be helpful. You know how much investment there’s been in this.’

The Captain nodded again, knew that he knew as much as they wanted him to.

‘He’s dead. That’s all that matters.’

The Lieutenant Colonel could barely disguise his irritation.

‘Well, let’s bloody hope so.’